Review: Animated, Direct-to-VOD Scoob! Is Somehow Too Much and Not Enough
If it’s possible for a film to be both too much and not enough, then that’s probably the best way to describe Scoob!, the latest studio feature film that was […]
Review: Alice Proves a Promising if Over-Polished Debut Feature Film
Writer/director Josephine Mackerras makes her feature film debut with Alice, the story of a woman who discovers her husband’s obsession with a high-end escort service only to be drawn into the […]
Review: Slight Fourteen Considers Friendship Over the Years
Something about Fourteen, a drama about the unique connection between close friends over time, feels downright retro. It’s not a period piece, but it’s as if it was made in another […]
Review: Up From the Streets is New Orleans’ Massive Music History in One Heartfelt Documentary
Subtitled New Orleans: The City of Music, Up From the Streets is a documentary from Michael Murphy (Make It Funky!) that attempts nothing short of giving a primer on the entire […]
Review: Castle in the Ground Explores Lives Intertwined in the Early Days of the Opioid Crisis
One of the many films slated for this year’s cancelled SXSW Film Festival (although the film had its official premiere at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival) was writer/director Joey Klein’s […]
Review: Capone Chronicles the Final Messy Year of Chicago’s Most Infamous Gangster
Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, I used to have a day job that required me to travel to various locations around the world, and no matter where I […]
Review: Beanie Feldstein Shines in Coming Of Age Adventures of How to Build a Girl
For some reason, the world at large has yet to realize what a stunning talent Beanie Feldstein truly is; the 26 year old (and Jonah Hill’s younger sister) can sing, […]
Review: A Dismal Set Up Makes 1BR Hard to Live With
Somewhere in 1BR, between the pointless torture porn and one-dimensional protagonist, is a smart commentary on the danger of cult mentality and how anyone can get wrapped up in something dangerous, […]
Review: Spaceship Earth Recounts the Fascination and Science Fiction of Biosphere 2
As a kid growing up obsessed with space travel and even the faintest possibility of humans living on the moon or Mars, I have a vague recollection of the two-year […]
Review: Clementine is Part Psychological Thriller, Part Drama, Part Something Else Entirely
More of an alluring curiosity than a proper coming-of-age story, Clementine, the feature debut from writer/director Lara Jean Gallagher, features two captivating lead performances trapped in a story that is […]
Review: A Pitch Black Fairy Tale, Judy & Punch Is as Dark as it is Funny
If you see only one Australian-made production about a 17th-century English master puppeteer and his equally masterful wife this year, you should absolutely seek out Judy & Punch, the skillfully […]
Review: Part Documentary, Part Thriller, The Infiltrators Goes Inside the Immigration Issue
Labeled by the filmmakers (accurately so, I might add) as a docu-thriller, The Infiltrators is the fascinatingly told true story of young, undocumented immigrants (most of whom came to the […]